The souls vocation or effectual calling to Christ. By T.HThe soules vocation or effectual calling to Christ. By T.H

Answ. I answer briefly, The Lord teacheth the soul by his Spirit. I told you that before, that not only the Father, but the Son and holy Ghost also teacheth: the Father from himself, the Son from the Father, and the holy Ghost from both: Therefore understand what I say, the Spirit of the Lord doth not only in the general, make known Gods mercy; but doth in particular, with strength of evidence, present to the broken hearted sinner the right of the freeness of Gods grace to the soul; nay, it holds those special considerations to the heart, and prefen•eth the heart with them: not only so, but in the second place, the Spirit doth forcibly soak in the re••ish of that grace into the heart, and by the over-piercing work, doth leave some dint of supernatural and spiritual virtue on the heart. The Spirit doth not only with truth bring home the evidence to the heart, but it i• st•ll whispering, and calling, and making known the same, and forcibly soaketh in the relish of the freeness of Gods grace, and leaveth a dint of supernatural virtue upon the soul. We will express the ⟨p. 46⟩points, because it is somewhat difficult, and is the scope of that place, 2 Tim. 1.7. The Lord hath not given you the spirit of fear, but of a sound mind. The spirit of fear, is the spirit of bondage, in humiliation & contrition. When the Spirit showeth a man his sins, and showeth him that he is in bondage, and in fetters, lets him get out how he can: this is the spirit of fear and of bondage. In the second place, there is the spirit of power. But what is this spirit of power? You must imagine this spirit of power doth not intimate any particular grace, but as it were the sinews and strength of the work of the Spirit, conveying it self through the frame of the heart and this I term to be the effectual work of the Spirit of God. When the soul is humbled, the Lord sweetly communicates into the soul a supernatural and spiritual virtue. Lastly, as it is in nature, take a knife, if it be rubbed on a Lodestone, it will draw iron unto it; now it cannot do that, because it is a knife, but because it is rubbed on a stone, and receives virtue there from: So it is with a heart humbled, it is a fit subject for the grace of God to work upon: